Page:Allan Octavian Hume, C.B.; Father of the Indian National Congress.djvu/153

 and evenings the temperature is often below freezing-point — in the middle of the day it ranges from 80° to 94° in the sun ; towards the end of February the heat increases and in March and the first fifteen days of April the temperature gradually rises, so that by the end of March the thermometer may be said never to fall below 65° and to rise to 110° at midday. During the latter part of April, May, and June till the first showers of the rain fall the heat is very great and the hot winds blow more or less continually. The ther- mometer very rarely, even just before sunrise falling below 80° and at 2 p.m. rising to 120° in the shade (we had it above that in our tents in 1858) and to 140° and even more incredible heights if exposed to the sun — however, towards the middle or end of May we sometimes have a Httle heavy rain which for a time cools the air. During June or early in July the periodical rains commence and continue with more or less violence till the end of August or the middle of September. The temperature during these months (depen- dent chiefly on the amount of rain that falls and the manner in which the falls are distributed) varies so much in different years and at different parts of the same season that it is difficult to give it any numerical representative, but perhaps if I assume 86° as the lowest and 112° as the highest average temperature in the shade during the rains, I shall not be far wrong. After the rain ceases there is usually a month of very hot and steamy weather, but during the course of October, the nights begin to grow cool, and the latter half of November and December are almost as cool as January. There is usually a fall of rain about the end of December which lasts a few days. The total fall of rain during the whole year is I estimate on the average 28 inches, of which 22 fall during the Rainy Season.

7. The cotton seed is usually sown during June after the first or second good fall of rain, but it is also at times (especially if the rains are late) sown in dry ground and there left to await the expected showers.

In years in which the rains are favourable, viz., in which the total fall is pretty equably distributed throughout the